OK. So someone explain it to me like I'm 5.

The big tech companies have been holding the US stock market up for years now.

They are all heavily investing in AI and their value is based on expectations of huge breakthroughs which will enrich the lives for everyone.

Some people say it's all hype, hopes snd dreams and when people figure that out everything comes crashing down. That's easy to understand.

But what if these rich dudes like Zuckerburg and Altman and the others are right? They make a machine that can do things better and faster than humans. No need to keep paying the workers anymore. Great. Mission accomplished.

How do they turn a profit at that point? If people are out of work, who is going to buy the output of the AI? Other rich dudes who already have their own AI? Governments? Is so, where do they get the money? We all know printing it isn't going to work, and if it's just going to taxes and then backto the companies, I don't understand the point. Where is the money supposed to come from?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

Give me the straight dope here. Teach me something.